


covalent bonds

by sunkissedcrow



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 02:59:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6547885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkissedcrow/pseuds/sunkissedcrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of Hinata’s greatest strengths is his innate ability to share something personal with others, whether that be a piece of sentimentality, or a fragment of his undeterred confidence. It was always something magnetic that begins the bonds he has with people.</p><p>These are some of the bonds Hinata Shouyou has formed, told from the point of views of the people he has influenced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	covalent bonds

**Author's Note:**

> A single covalent bond is formed when two atoms share a pair of electrons.
> 
> This was inspired by [this](http://queen-nico.tumblr.com/post/108859612031/do-you-ever-think-about-how-beautiful-hinatas) post, which talks about Hinata's positive influence on people. I love this piece of sunshine and I really just wanted to write about how these characters love Hinata too.
> 
> (Written for Haikyuu!! Week 2016, Day 5: Bonds)

Before Hinata, whenever Kageyama dreamt about that match in junior high, that match where he was abandoned by his spikers, the dream would always end in silence. He would wake up after he saw the ball drop, eyes opening slowly as if his body wasn't drenched in sweat, tensed with the memories he tried so hard to forget every night.

After Hinata, whenever Kageyama dreamt about that match in junior high (which was less often), the dream would always end with a flash of Hinata’s orange hair, just at the corner of his eyes. Then his voice, loud and clear, “Kageyama, I’m here!” He would feel the volleyball in his hands, pushing it into a perfect toss, and then he would wake up as he heard the ball being spiked, eyes slowly opening after a perfect night’s rest.

He wondered, sometimes, as he slowly got up from his bed and padded to the bathroom, if that idiot even knew how much impact he has, not just by being a decoy in volleyball matches, but as a person in general.

 

//

 

Curiosity, Kenma identified, was what started Shouyou and his friendship.

He could never imagine himself going up to a complete stranger like Shouyou had when they first met. Yet the orange hair boy had, and simply stroke up a conversation with Kenma like he was just another one of his classmates, another one of his teammates.

Shouyou had no hesitation when it came to people. He could speak his mind without worrying about what the other might think about him, he simply…asked.

He shouted “what are you doing?” before jogging over to Kenma. He asked if he was from out of town, he asked if his phone was fun, he asked if he played volleyball, if _he_ liked volleyball.

It was most definitely curiosity, well, curiosity and volleyball, that started Kenma's friendship with Shouyou.

“Kenma!” Shouyou shouted when he spotted Kenma in the Nekoma school parking lot. He immediately ran over to Kenma with an excited grin, hands clutching the strap of his cross-body bag. “Hi! I’m so sorry for falling asleep last night!"

Kenma smiled. “It’s okay,” he says, because while Shouyou probably had enough energy to run their high school, it was not the first time the other boy had fallen asleep during their text conversations. “Did you sleep well?"

Shouyou nodded. “Mm-hm! I was actually worried I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep because I was so excited to come,” he explained. “What about you, Kenma? Did you sleep well?"

To Kenma, it all seemed like small talk at first. Questions such as “how are you?” or “how was your day?” were meaningless questions when all the speaker wanted was to be polite, and receive a detached obligatory, “I’m fine, how are you?” Kenma didn’t find these types of questions or conversations particularly enjoyable, until he realized Shouyou was genuinely interested in hearing about what Kenma has to say.

“Yeah, I did,” Kenma answered.

Shouyou’s smile brightened. “Ah I’m glad, because now we’ll have loads of energy for volleyball today!” he exclaimed, stretching his arms above his head. “Hey, where’s Lev?” he asked, peering side to side for the Nekoma first year. “He usually follows you around, doesn’t he?"

That earned a frown from Kenma, because...well, simply because Lev was involved. “Coach made him practice receives with Yaku before you guys came, so he’s probably lying on the floor of the gym."

Shouyou shuddered visibly. “Kageyama’s been making me do more receive practices too,” he said, with a quick glance behind his shoulder. Kageyama, just like he expected, was standing behind him a few feet away, talking to Sugawara and nodding with a serious look on his face. “But he did say I was getting better!"

“I’m glad too,” Kenma found himself saying, and Shouyou smiled widely, showing all of his teeth. “We want to play you in Nationals."

Hinata nodded. “You can count on it!"

Kenma was glad he was lost that day. He was glad Hinata had been curious. He was glad they became friends.

 

//

 

When Aone held out his hand to Karasuno’s number ten, fresh beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

Karasuno's number ten looked up at him with wide eyes, surprised at Aone's hand underneath the volleyball net. The smaller boy, standing right in front of Aone, relaxed but still buzzing after Karasuno's victory, seemed tinier than when he soared across the court for a spike. Aone couldn’t help but tense up, his thin eyebrows furrowing as he wondered if the other boy would shake his hand at all.

On the volleyball court he wasn’t the tall, scary second year student at Date Tech High. He was a skilled middle blocker, part of the famous iron wall. But the match was over now, and Aone towered over Karasuno’s number ten on the ground, whose invisible wings were resting after their rigorous fight.

Aone was briefly reminded of when he was little, when his mother took him to meet their new next door neighbour. He held his hand out, just like his mother cooed, to the girl about the same age as him, but she only cowered in surprise—fear?—in return.

Hinata Shouyou blinked before accepting Aone’s outstretched hand, grasping it with both of his own. His palms were warm, and Aone relaxed. Gently shaking his hand, Hinata met his eyes.“It was fun playing against you,” he said with a hint of a smile, laced with his usual determination.

Aone nodded jerkily. He had several things he wanted to say, but, this is what came out, “I’ll catch you next time."

To his surprise, Hinata’s eyes gleamed.

He watched Hinata leave the court, joining his team, walking next to Karasuno’s setter with a smile on his face. They would meet again in a few months, and Aone found himself looking forward to when they do.

 

//

 

There were still days when Yachi thought that talking to Hinata was draining.

He had so much energy, his mind roamed everywhere and he talked about everything. There were days when Hinata was buzzing around so much Yachi could barely get him to sit still for five minutes. (But Yachi knew this didn’t come naturally to Hinata, being still, sitting at a desk, focusing on static words on a page instead of a volleyball flying in the sky.)

Most of the time, though, Yachi thought talking to Hinata was invigorating.

His confidence was inspiring, his optimism infectious; being under direct sunlight had nothing compared to being around Hinata. The first time they talked properly, he knocked out all of her clouded thoughts of forgetting names, being a failure, needing to fight alley cats for food and losing her organs, all with just one simple sentence.

“I’m Hinata Shouyou from class 1,” he had said with a smile.

Yachi remembered the way her mind had gone silent in an instant, stunned at how Hinata’s voice had cut across all the speculated fear she had conjured up in the five seconds it took for Hinata and Kageyama to walk to her desk.

“H-hey,” she had responded, and that was just the beginning.

She didn’t think he’d understand, or rather, she didn’t think he’d care as much. Someone like Hinata, who had unwavering confidence, who treated self-doubts like motivation to work harder, she didn’t think he’d be the one to help her overcome herself.

At first when Hinata recounted all of the times he messed up,Yachi was more concerned with how many incidents the volleyball club seem to have and whether she would experience so many if she joined as the manager. But when he asked her, “but you want to do this, right, Yachi-san?"

Yachi hesitated, but Hinata accepted it anyway. He believed as long as you wanted to do something, you could do it, and he believed in Yachi for wanting to be the volleyball manager.

It was all so different.

After that, he always offered to help her with poster designs and such, which was why they were sitting outside with their lunches. He said it was to make up for her tutoring sessions, and Yachi appreciated the help.

“What are we looking at today, Yachi-san?” Hinata asked, opening the plastic wrap to his school-bought bun with a pop.

“Well, Kiyoko-san said it might be helpful to make posters advertising Karasuno making Nationals,” Yachi explained, taking out her sketches from her bag.

Hinata's eyes lit up at the mention of Nationals. “Yes!” he cried, bouncing, “Everyone should know and they can go watch it on TV when we play!"

Yachi smiled. “I came up with a few designs,” she said. Just when she was about to show Hinata the papers in her hand, a gust of wind blew by, knocking her sketches away. “No!” Yachi cried, terrified about the possibility of her papers fluttering all the way out of Japan and gone forever.

“I got them, I got them!” Hinata was on his feet already, his bun flying across to Yachi, and she scrambled to catch it in her hand. When she looked up at Hinata, he was already handing the sketches back to her with a smile. “No worries, Yachi-san,” he said.

Yachi blinked. From her angle, Hinata was standing against the sunlight, his figure outlined by the high afternoon sun. The photographer in Yachi was inching to snap a picture, to capture this moment for eternity.

“Wow!” Hinata exclaimed, bringing Yachi back to the present. "These look amazing, Yachi-san!"

Flattered, Yachi placed a hand at the back her head. “Really?” she asked, and Hinata immediately nodded. “Which one do you like?"

 

//

 

Kageyama would never admit this to Hinata (because the thought of it alone seemed like some sort defeat and Kageyama did _not_ like to lose), but he didn’t know if Hinata and him were actually friends for the longest time.

It was embarrassing, especially in the face of Hinata’s plethora of friendships. Kageyama has seen Hinata surrounded by his classmates during break time, all laughing and chatting about something, all having a good time.

At this sight, there wasn’t a lurch in his stomach per say, just a single thought, come and gone as soon as Hinata spotted him hesitating at the doorway: _are_ we _like that? Are_ we _friends like that?_

Back in junior high, he had either spent his breaks practicing or eating alone. When they were all still nervous first years, trying to make friends and settle into a new school, Kunimi and Kindaichi would sit with him during lunch. They stopped in their third year, and Kageyama had more time to practice his jump serve by himself, so he wasn’t bothered. He wasn’t bothered.

It wasn’t until he met Hinata that he found someone who wanted to practice or talk about volleyball as much as he did. When Hinata sought him out for extra practice the first time, Kageyama didn’t think of it as anything beyond their volleyball obsession and (friendly) rivalry.

Then Hinata started to text him, and Kageyama sent youtube links to a few of his favourite volleyball matches back, and they made plans to go out for extra practice during the weekend.

Kageyama had to wonder if Hinata was actually becoming a friend. And he had to wonder because he wasn’t sure if he knew what that word meant, and what that word meant in terms of how they acted, or what they did.

But now suddenly he had someone who would talk to him first, and yeah, for all the time they spent together, they don’t talk about volleyball one hundred precent of the time. Hinata was becoming more than a teammate, more than a partner.

Kageyama woke suddenly, feeling a thud on shoulder. When he looked over, he was caught with a face full of Hinata’s orange hair.

“Dumbass,” he hissed, jerking away, which promptly woke Hinata up.

“What—why,” he spluttered. His hands started slapping at the air around him and Kageyama just rolled his eyes fondly, settling back to his seat comfortably. He cracked his neck, then laid his head to the side facing the window. The moment he closed his eyes he heard a whisper, “Kageyama."

He didn’t even bother opening his eyes. “Go to sleep,” he said softly, and there was a pause.

“Kageyama,” Hinata said again, a little louder this time, and Kageyama exhaled sharply, opening his eyes.

What he didn’t expect was Hinata’s brown eyes, staring right at his. But the smaller’s boy eyes weren’t holding wide eye innocence, or an intimidating challenge; Hinata’s eyes were soft, crinkled around the edges just enough to let Kageyama know that the other boy was definitely dead tired (like he was) and still half asleep.

“What?” Kageyama whispered back.

Hinata broke into a grin, his eyes so crinkled they were basically closed. “We were invincible today."

He felt the corner of his lips twitch, like they wanted to pull up in the smile, but Kageyama knew he didn’t smile well so he tried to stop before Hinata would see him and get freaked out—

Hinata’s head bobbed forward, his lips relaxing into a slight pout. He was fast asleep.

Kageyama looked at the boy in front of him, his partner, his friend, and closed his eyes again, letting his lips curl up with contentment as he fell back asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> oh, the last scene takes place after the match against Shiratorizawa.
> 
> I'm also on [tumblr](http://sunkissedcrow.tumblr.com)! There’s still a couple of days left in [Haikyuu!! Week](http://haikyuuweek2016.tumblr.com/), so go join if you’re interested!


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